My Daddy's a Marine
by bangelluvforever
Summary: They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. There must be many children in the same boat as this girl.


**Title:** My Daddy's a Marine

**Author:** Jessica L. Ayers

**Disclaimer:** I so don't own anything.

**Claimer:** The same as every claimer I put. I own only the bad spelling, the bad grammar, and the bad plot along with the middle names and nicknames (except Wildcat and lunk head basketball boy).

**Category:** High School Musical (of course =)

**Rating:** K+

**Feedback:** Very much appreciated.

**Characters:** Um, the wildcats and the dad's (also Inez and I think Ms. Darbus)

**Full Summary:** They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. There must be many children in the same boat as this girl.

**One shot started: November 23, 2009.**

**One shot finished: November 23, 2009.**

**Author's Note:** Well, okay this was just a spur of the moment idea after reading a forwarded message I got from my mommy and it was titled "Daddy's Poem" and so, at first I thought….but you know what I won't tell you what I thought because you'll know, hopefully, when you begin reading this. There's going to be small warning (because I don't know if it should be a major warning) that it's a **TEARJERKER**! So be forewarned, okay? And don't say I didn't warn you ahead of time. Well, um I hope you guys like my first shot at a tearjerker. Please let me know your TRUTHFUL thoughts about this and what your first thoughts were as in if you…I'll explain more at the end. :D

Toodles.

* * *

**My Daddy's a Marine**

**-- By Jessica L. Ayers.**

Seventeen year old, Gabriella Marie Montez's Goddess like brunette waves were up in a perfect pony tail and dressed in a pair of black Jimmy Choo high heels and her favorite white dress with a blue bow tied around her waist because today was Daddy's Day at her high school, East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she was a brilliant and kind hearted student, and she couldn't wait to go.

But as she entered her beautifully decorated kitchen where her mother, Inez Marie Montez, sat at the stainless steal island, she saw the look in her mother's eyes and knew exactly what it meant, just like it had meant so many times before, especially as her mother's mini-speech from last night echoed in her mind, _"Mija, I…I don't want you to go tomorrow, I think you should probably just stay home. They kids might not understand, if you went to school alone."_

But with a soft smile the young lady greeted her mom with a soft butterfly kiss on the cheek before taking the cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows and taking a sip of it before saying with a soft smile, "I'm not afraid, Mommy; I know just what to say. What to tell my classmates as to why he won't be there today."

But still Inez worried, for her to face this day alone and that was why once again, she tried to keep her daughter home, "Mija, please stay home, you don't know how the other kids will react to them all showing up with a dad, but not you. Mija, I don't want you to get hurt especially, when I won't be there to make sure you're kept safe and sound, holding your beautiful head high."

"Mommy, I'll be fine, trust me, okay? I've got to go know, I love you," the girl told her mom, still eager to tell all, about her dad she never sees and a dad who never calls.

* * *

As Gabriella entered the room, she smiled softly at how there were daddies along the wall in the back of Ms. Darbus' classroom, for everyone to meet while the teens in the classroom were squirming impatiently, anxious or nervous in their seats, she couldn't really tell, but nonetheless took her assigned seat in the back of the room beside her friend, Taylor McKessie, with a soft smile.

As class began, Ms. Darbus called a student from the class, one by one, to introduce their daddy as seconds slowly passed by and each time Gabriella's friends' dad's were up front with their teen or teens in her best friend, Sharpay Evans', case as she stood up from with her dad and her twin brother, Ryan Evans, and smiled as she listened to each of the dad's being introduced and listened closely as they talked a little about their relationship with their child, even though she knew perfectly well, how their relationships were, after all they were a close knit group of friends known to everyone in Albuquerque as the "Wildcats" while their parents were called the "Wildcat Parents" when together, a close knit family they all were even though they weren't related by blood, but instead by their souls and hearts.

Finally, at last, Ms. Darbus called her name, "Ms. Montez."

Gabriella smiled softly and stood up, her held up high as she walked to the front of the room with every teen turned to stare, each of them (even her friends) searching for a man who wasn't there with his daughter.

"Where's her dad at?" She heard one of her friends, Jason Cross, call out.

"She probably doesn't have one," one of the soccer players dared to shout out.

And from somewhere near the back, she heard a daddy say, "Looks like another deadbeat dad, too busy to waste his day."

Yet, the words did not offend the Filipina, as she smiled at her mom who had slipped into the crowd of dad's in the back before looking at her teacher, who told her to go on. So with a smile and her hands behind her back, she slowly began to speak, causing some to let out surprise shock that out of a mouth from a teen, came words incredibly unique, "My Daddy couldn't be here, because he lives so far away, but know he wishes he could be, since this is such a special day. And though you cannot meet him, I wanted you to know, all about my daddy, and how much he loves me so. He loved to tell me stories; he thought me to ride my bike. He surprised me with pink roses, and taught me to fly a kite. We used to share fudge sundaes, and ice cream in a cone.

And though you cannot see him, I'm not standing here alone because my daddy's always with me, even though we are apart I know because he told me, he'll forever be in my heart."

With that, her petite hand reach up, and lay across her chest, feeling her own heartbeat, beneath her favorite dress. And from somewhere there in the crowd of dads, her mother stood in tears, proudly watching her daughter, who was wise beyond her years. For she stood up for the love of a man not in her life, doing what was best for her, doing what was right. And when she dropped her hand back down, staring straight into the crowd, she finished with a voice so soft, but its message clear and loud, "I love my daddy very much, he's my shining star and if he could, he'd be here, but heaven's just too far. You see, nobody knew, but he was a Marine and died just this past year when a roadside bomb hit his convoy and taught Americans to fear.

But sometimes when I close my eyes, it's like he never went away," and then she closed her chocolate brown eyes, and saw him there that day. And to her mother's amazement, she witnessed with surprise, a room full of daddies and young men and woman (even Ms. Darbus), all starting to close their eyes.

Who knows what they saw before them, who knows what they felt inside. Perhaps for merely a second, they saw him, Greg Montez, at her side, smiling proudly at his beautiful baby girl, his precious angel that was sent from heaven, and through the silence everyone heard her soft voice, the voice of an angel, call out, "I know you're with me, Daddy."

What happened next made believers, of those once filled with doubt because not one in that room could explain it, for each of their eyes had been closed, but there on the desk beside her, was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose, like the one she had talked about, and a teen was bless, if only for a moment, by the love of her shining star…And given the gift that believing, that heaven is never too far.

"_**They say it takes a minute to find a special person,**_

_**An hour to appreciate them, a day to love them,**_

_**But then an entire life to forget them.**_

_**There are many children and teens in the same boat as this girl,**_

_**Thanks to our servicemen (and woman) and their families for the sacrifice**_

_**They are making to keep our country the land of the free…because of the brave.**_

_**Take time…to live and love.**_

_**Until eternity. God Bless.**_

**~The End~**

* * *

_**Well, there it is. I know it's short, but I just had to write it, I might not update this right away because I might add more to it, you never know with me. But right now I'm crying so hard it's not funny. So, please tell me what you first thought had happened to her dad, okay, I just wanted to see if anyone got the same expression I did at first. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I know it wasn't Troyella which is why I'm not gonna post this under "Forever & Eternity" but under it's own, okay? I love you all. XOXO**_

_**Toodles,**_

_**Jessica**_

**The face of a father, the courage of a man,  
When others asked "WHY?", he said "I'm a MARINE and I can."**  
**Off to defend our country in war,  
Not knowing that God had other plans in store.  
Taken from his family, and bringing them tears,  
Such a great daddy, so loved by his daughter.  
He now joins his brothers and sons, forgotten never,  
God's newest angel...is A MARINE forever!**

**--by Jessica L. Ayers**


End file.
